Sony might stop making phones

Sony has a new chief executive officer that replaces long-term CEO Kaz Hirai and a new CEO also means a new plan for the company's future, a plan that might include a move away from consumer gadgets. And yes, while nobody at Sony admits that, this might well mean that the company is stepping away from making not only phones, but other consumer gadgets as well, including the popular Playstation and Sony cameras.

While we hope this does not happen, new Sony chief executive Kenichiro Yoshida unveiled a new three-year plan for the company on Tuesday and the focus of that plan was on services and other core areas of Sony profitability. And nope, there was no mention of consumer gadgets, let alone phones in that presentation.

So here is a big pre-emptive statement: we really hope that we are reading too much into this and Sony keeps on making phones, but here are a few reasons why it actually makes sense for the company to turn away from gadgets and into services.

The key word is focus. Sony makes most of the camera sensors for the camera and cameraphone industries, and it's making billions from that business.

In stark contrast, the Sony mobile phone business has been rapidly shrinking. The company still has a strong brand name and great recognition among customers, but it only sold around 10 million phones in 2018, down from 22.5 million in the past year, and Sony just can't find a foothold outside of Asia. And then turning to the popular Playstation 4, even sales of the console have gone down 18% in the most recent quarter and executives admit that the PS4 is approaching the end of its lifecycle. The PS4 is still a great business for Sony because of gaming revenues, streaming and so on, but the console itself is not the only revenue driver.

Okay, we doubt that Sony would just pull the plug on the Playstation series (we don't rule this out, though), but it would be much easier for the company to stop making phones.

And we sincerely hope it doesn't. The latest Sony phones - the Xperia XZ2 and the XZ2 Compact - are the company's best and show that Sony is improving. Yes, the company still needs to step up its game and match others with a truly bezel-less design and so on, but in order to do that and actually have a chance to compete, it has to stay in the game.

Where is the XZ2 premium? I am waiting for that one. They are the only ones that make a 4k smartphone. Some Cardboard and other apps take advantage of their amazing displays. The thing is Sony makes camera modules for many OEMs including Apple, Samsung, LG, and many more. They even make displays for a number of OEMs as well. The thing is their is a number of other OEMs constantly growing and pushing their way into the markets. It isn't like there is a lack of competition in the Android space.

XZ2 Premium according to Sony , will launched around this Summer for global launch (Around June-July) , except for Japan Market itself , August 2018 .Few markets has been scrapped for XZ2 Premium to came by Sony itself such as Ireland and UK .

Why it is possible SONY to step out of making phones?
I own XZ Premium. What I like:
Great display;
Great position for FPS. Best of all for me;
Nice design. I like "squarish" phones;
Excellent user interface;
Great music experience;

What I do not like:
Too wide size to be comfortable to operate;
Plastic frame;
Not good enough camera especially in low light;
Not optimized camera interface;
Bezels can be reduced at least a bit;
FF speakers can be louder;
Battery capacity can be extended for such big phone;

So what the did in XZ2:
Size: improved, but uncomfortable and even impossible to operate, when the phone is put on the table.
Metal frame, but with ridge between the glass back and metal fame, something like Z5 Premium;
Camera is better, but far away from Samsung, Apple, even Huawei;
Bezels top and bottom are useless. Aesthetically can be reduced a little;
FF speakers are improved, but just a bit;
Battery is improved to say enough.
BUT REMOVED HEADPHONE JACK;
FPS IS ON MOST INCONVENIENT AND UNCOMFORTABLE POSITION EVER ON A PHONE!
WTF SONY?
How to buy new XZ2?
HEAVY AND FAT PHONE!
DO YOU HAVE DESIGNERS?
DO THEY RALLY USE THEIR OWN PRODUCTS?
Obviously not, cause if they used it, they will never created that way.

They wont pull the plug on Playstation, it's massively profitable, especially the services part.
Plus in the last few days code has turned up that they have been working with AMD's Ryzen and that can only mean APU's for the PS5.

Well , don't blame the last-existence of some minority smartphones users though , if in next few years , you're complaining the monopoly in Smartphones Markets that only filled by either Samsung , Xiaomi or Apple and feels it doesn't like the old days ....

I think Sony should have went the route Razer did creating gaming phones, they are big players in the gaming market and I think this would have built up their presence and would have brought them into a unique market... Ofcourse their current phone design would have to change currently it's quite bland and unrecognizable... They should really tap into creating luxury gaming smartphones that you can identify through their unique looks. There is so much Sony could do... They already have a good brand name and identity why refuse to use it?

I know plenty of people wanting a smartphone with flagship specs and a built in controller... The concept would be a PSP like smartphone... It's so obvious yet it hasn't been done I don't even understand it... The Xperia play didnt count because it's hardware was never flagship and it's controls were awful it's like shooting themselves in the foot creating a bad representation. I think it would be a harness win if they took it seriously and went all in with it.

I'm in agreement that Sony really should have made a proper PlayStation phone. The Xperia Play was a great concept, but horrible implementation. The specs were outdated before it came out and there weren't many games that supported gamepads at that time because Android didn't have a unified gamepad API until the it came out. Plus Sony didn't support it at all pulling all the ported PS1 games from it after people figured out how copy and sideload them as well as how to use the bundled emulator with other PS1 games. Plus they didn't want to cannibalize sales of the PS Vita that released at the same time.

Having owned an Xperia Play, I can say that the gamepad was the best part of the device. The track pads did suck, but the physical buttons were rock solid and the directional pad was superior to that on the PSP and capable of easily pulling off complex movements for fighting game special moves. I have yet to find a third-party gamepad with a d-pad anywhere near as good in all the years since. The only one that comes close is using an actual Dualshock 4 paired to the phone. If that kind of gamepad were even on modern midrange hardware like that in the Xperia X, it would be a force to be reckoned with, let alone anything with a Snapdragon 8xx series chip.

All these "gaming" phones seem to ignore the biggest thing that gamers want: physical controls. Touch screens suck. I want real buttons. Sony could leverage that and the PlayStation brand as a whole to much greater effect on their phones.

I doubt Sony will stop making phones they said they are going to focus on making high end flagship phones. PlayStation isn't going anywhere either it's the best selling console with the highest installed base right now.

Sony seem very good indeed with there cameras on there phones,but Why?does every Sony phone look the same,with too much Bezels at the Top or Bottom,Why?couldn"t they Trim the Bezels down so people got more Screen vision on there phones and also remove there name on the Bezels like Samsung have,but they will not,so losing out like the others are

I actually loved the XZ Premium even if I never had a chance to have it, only thing its missing is their negligence to have bezelless screen and dual cameras, apart from that I see nothing wrong with the phone at all.

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